Which to use
“causait” and “coûtait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,695
- “causait” frequency rank
- #23,155
- “coûtait” frequency rank
- 62850
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | causait | coûtait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe causer. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de coûter. |
Where the eye mixes causait and coûtait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. causait and coûtait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between causait and coûtait
A purely visual mix-up. causait (\ko.zɛ\) and coûtait (\ku.tɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62850, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
causait is recorded at frequency rank #39,695, classified as averb, pronounced \ko.zɛ\. coûtait is at rank #23,155, tagged as averb, pronounced \ku.tɛ\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 62850, this pair ranks #84,948 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of causait vs coûtait
Shared letters: acit. Private to "causait": su. Private to "coûtait": oû.
"causait" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "coûtait" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- causait ← casuait · cauasit · causaitt · causati · causiat · caussait · ccausait · cuasait
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "causait" for "coûtait" ever safe?
Frequency check: "causait" vs "coûtait" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "causait" and "coûtait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "causait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coûtait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #84,948 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "causait" and "coûtait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "causait vs chassait". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #84,948 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.